AP FACT CHECK: Ex-agent didn't write book outing Obama

A widely shared story that claimed a former Secret Service agent outed President Barack Obama as a gay man and a radical Muslim is false.

The fake story says an ex-agent named Paul Horner published the claims in a book titled "The Black House." The article also features an interview that the former agent conducted with a supposed senior political analyst with NBC News named Tom Downey.

NBC News confirms that no one named Tom Downey has ever worked for it as a political analyst. Secret Service spokesman Joe Casey says records dating back to 1990 reveal no agent named Paul Horner. And the book cannot be found listed for sale by any retailer.

A man named Paul Horner has identified himself as the creator of several sites that posted the story, including newsexaminer.net.

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This story has been corrected to show that Paul Horner has identified himself as the creator of several sites that posted the story, including newsexaminer.net, not newsexaminer.com.